wine sooth

Sacramento's Corti Brothers has lost its lease.

After 38 years, Sacramento’s Corti Brothers will close its current location, the Sacramento Bee reported Tuesday. Morton Leslie tipped me about this story earlier today.

Darrell Corti is a respected wine expert and writer who had recently taken a strong stand on the issue of rising alcohol levels in wine. His statements to Alan Goldfarb in the Appellation America interview seemed to indicate that his stance has not hurt business. (more…)

Root of All Evil - Comedy Central

The “angriest Jew in show business” (and one of my favorite comedians) - Lewis Black - has a Comedy Central show called “The Root of All Evil” the format is a hybrid of a kangaroo court and a debate. Black presides over the proceedings where two of a line up of stand-up comics argue which of the evening’s two items is The Root of All Evil. Last night’s episode pitted Ultimate Fighting against Blogging and arguing against blogging was Patton Oswalt.

What follows, below, is a live, as-it-went down summary of the highlights from the argument why blogging is the Root of All Evil:

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Viral marketing is alive and well. And if you don’t think it pays, ask Gary Vaynerchuk or the folks at paltalk.com who produced the slick, fun video piece above. (Hell, ask whoever told Robert Parker about the pending Ch. Montelena sale).

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Wine and Food

Out of an exchange with Tyler Colman of drvino.com comes an idea that may help us all gain a better understanding of food and wine pairings. The idea is simple: every third Friday of every month, a recipe will be offered for bloggers to try with a wine of their choice. The task for individual bloggers will be to describe how the wine of their choice pairs and interacts with the dish of the month.

I will propose a simple recipe and all willing bloggers will pick the wine they think will do best with the dish. Participants are welcome to try more than one wine with the dish. The only thing I ask is that participating bloggers think about the interaction of flavors, aromas and textures of the food and wine. The idea here is to seek out pairings that create great synergy. (more…)

LA Times search. (image simulated)

You would think the major newspaper in a metropolis located just 90 minutes south of Santa Barbara County wine country (and another 90 north of Temecula) would have a staff wine writer or wine critic. If not to speak for the wines of those two regions, then to only “represent” the West Coast wine writing contingent (if not perspective). For some time, the Los Angeles Times has had that role filled by a few staff writers and Corie Brown.

In a Time.com piece of some time ago, I read that the LA Times was going to lay off one sixth of its staff. “Not a good time to go pitching a column to the chief editor”, I thought. Then, by way of GoodGrape, I heard of this post by Jancis Robinson. (more…)

Network

Ever since I started this blog, I have been graced with some very kind and flattering endorsements. I am grateful to all who have indicated wine sooth as a blog worthy of reading. Taking a moment out of the current whirlwind of activity in my life, I want to acknowledge and reciprocate this kindness.

I read a large number of blogs and wine news services daily. I love Tom Wark’s blog for being at times philosophical, soulful, provocative and always interesting and relevant. One certainly has seen the intellectual sparring between Alder and myself on Vinography. I also appreciate Tyler Coleman’s posts which help keep things light and serve as a barometer of the general public’s views on wine-related matters. I also visit Eric Asimov’s blog regularly as my philosophy and preferences in wine tend to be aligned with his. (more…)

My sandbox

Blogs should not be the private playgrounds of their authors. They should be written for the benefit of readers and those who participate in the discussion.

Recently, Tom Wark put up a post on his blog outlining some tips for starting a wine blog. While I had commented that I don’t like to jump on the band wagon of topic trends, there is one thing I want to add to Tom’s list: share your sandbox. (more…)